The cost-effectiveness of multiple sclerosis rehabilitation: a model.

Many patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who have fixed, chronic neurologic deficits are kept at home with the help of community support systems, which cannot improve the physical independence of the MS patients they serve. We have found that active, intensive, multidisciplinary rehabilitation effectively improves functional performance, even though it cannot alter the underlying disorder. Inpatient rehabilitation with follow-up home care may actually be less expensive than any other current health care alternative.

Stroke rehabilitation. Outcome studies and guidelines for alternative levels of care.

"Every year, nearly 400,000 people in the United States become stroke victims. Approximately 40% of these die within a month and at least two-thirds of those who survive have some degree of permanent disability. At the present time, the population of this country includes two and a half million disabled survivors of stroke.

Time-oriented functional profile: practical applications in a stroke data-base model.

The feasibility of transferring data from a large computerized stroke data-base system (BUSTOP) to an existing time-oriented system of proven utility (ARAMIS) is demonstrated. Potential advantages of a time-oriented data-base system include: determination of prognostic indicators, suggestions for therapeutic intervention, analysis of experimental treatment programs, development of units of cost effectiveness and provision for uniform methods of auditing stroke care. This demonstration project shows that a large-scale stroke data-base system is feasible using existing computer models which are currently collecting and analyzing data-base statistics.